The present subject matter concerns both apparatus and methodology in the area of metering, including the use of practical computer software applications involving an algorithm approach to produce a useful, concrete and tangible result, i.e., namely, a stored data value for consumed electricity (or other commodity) to be charged to a customer's account.
The general object of metrology is to monitor a physical phenomenon to permit a record of the monitored event(s). If the potential to record the measured or monitored data is lost, then the entire basic purpose of the metering device and/or effort fails. Such basic function and purpose of metering devices can be applied to a number of contexts. One broad area of measurement relates, for example, to utility meters. These may include the monitoring of consumption of a variety of forms of energy or other commodities, such as electricity, water, gas, and oil, to name a few.
Historically, a mechanical form of register was used for utility meters. Such an approach provided a relatively dependable field device with certain inherent functional advantages. For example, if the flow of the consumable commodity being measured was interrupted, the mechanical form of gauge simply stopped in its place, automatically reflecting the previous accumulation without other arrangements being required, and without any loss of such accumulated data. After resumption of the flow of the commodity, the mechanical register could then simply begin to add additional flow values to the previous accumulation, so that accurate data was reflected at all times regardless of intermittent commodity flow interruptions.
Also, in many instances, the gauge or register required no separate power supply since it was operated directly by the commodity flow. In the case of electricity meters, the mechanical register could be electrically powered. Hence, when power was lost, the measurement function was temporarily moot so no measurement functionality was lost even though the gauge itself would be temporarily without power.
As the technology of metering devices progressed, mechanical registers began to be replaced with more electrical-based devices and electronic forms of registers. Generally speaking, all such devices require some form of electrical power for their operation and data storage function. Such fact created the potential for catastrophic loss of accumulated data, i.e., the failure of the entire purpose of the measuring device if data representing accumulated commodity usage were lost.
For example, in the case of an electricity meter, electric power is already flowing to and through the metering or measuring device. Such fact makes for a convenient supply of electricity, without having to attempt to rely on battery operation or some other source of electrical power. However, such an arrangement, while advantageous in certain aspects, is inherently susceptible to the loss of electrical power to the measuring device including its register at the same time there is any power loss to the customer's location, for example, home or business.
Intermittent power outages or other conditions, such as brown outs can occur in even the best-maintained systems. For example, an electrical power system can become damaged due to storm debris (e.g., falling limbs) or high winds, or from an accident (for example, vehicles such as trucks or cars knocking down utility poles and power lines). Under certain load shedding conditions, it may even become necessary for power to a given location to be deliberately interrupted.
Regardless of such causes, or possibly other sources of power outages, the inherent problem is that an electrical measuring device with an electrically powered register may lose its accumulated data in the event of a power outage. Prior attempts have been made to address such technical problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,111 B2 to Klein et al. for Apparatus for Power Failure Identification in a Programmable Household Appliance and Method for Identifying Power Failure, issued Jan. 27, 2004, discloses a technique wherein a signal representing the mains supply voltage is compared to a power supply signal by a subroutine of the operating software of an appliance. Upon identification of a power failure, data relating to the operational state of the appliance is stored in a memory so that operation may resume at the same point in the operational sequence upon power restoration. U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2003/0014200 A1 to Jonker et al. for Revenue Meter With Power Quality Feature, published Jan. 16, 2003, discloses an electricity meter and data storage technique wherein all recorded and computed data is moved to non-volatile storage in the event a power quality event jeopardizes the operational power of the meter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,644 B1 to Hall et al for Method and Apparatus for Read-After-Write Verification With Error Tolerance, issued Jan. 28, 2003, discloses a technique wherein a read-after-write test is performed and a decision is made as to whether it is necessary to rewrite a data block, based on the number of errors detected. U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,656 B1 to Cain et al. for Memory Integrity for Meters, issued Apr. 17, 2001, discloses an electricity meter and data storage technique involving the possibility of a second write operation to ensure successful storage of the corresponding data. U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,296 to Newell et al. for Portable Utility Billing Apparatus, issued Jun. 7, 1983, describes a meter reader carried apparatus for storing data read from individual customers electricity meter, which can involve a visual display and an audible alarm if data written onto a magnetic tape is incorrect. U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,877 to Dyer et al. for Billing Recorder with Non-volatile Solid State Memory, issued Nov. 30, 1982, describes an apparatus for measuring and recording energy consumption data in a bubble memory such that a notation is made if an error persists after repeated storage attempts.
Other arrangements and aspects of electronic-based electricity meters are known. See, for example, disclosures set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,783,623; 5,469,049 and 4,509,128. The disclosures of all such patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference, for all purposes.